Stefan Lech Sokołowski
Born(1904-05-25)25 May 1904
Warsaw, Russian Empire
Diedspring 1940
Katyń, Soviet Union
Buried
Katyn war cemetery
AllegianceSecond Polish Republic
Service/branch Polish Land Forces
Years of service1919, 1933, 1939
Rankporucznik
Battles/warsBattle of Lemberg (1918–1919), Invasion of Poland
AwardsSilver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (nr 14384;11 November 1976)
Cross of the September Campaign (1 July 1986)

Stefan Lech Sokołowski (Gozdawa coat of arms) (25 May 1904- spring 1940) was a Polish mathematician, climber and lieutenant (porucznik[pl]) of artillery in the Polish Land Forces. He was aLwów Eaglet, a group of children who defended the city of Lviv in 1918-1919 during the Polish-Ukrainian War. He was also a Doctor of mathematical sciences. He died as a result of the Katyn massacre, a Soviet massacre of Polish military officers in 1940. [1]

Life

Sokołowski was born on 25 May 1904 in Warsaw in the family of railway engineer and inventor, Witold Sokołowski (1871–1944), who used the Gozdawa coat of arms, and writer Anna Maria Sokołowska, née Skarbek (1878–1972).[2][3][4][5] In 1912 with his mother and sisters, he moved to Myślenice, Poland. [6] When he was less than fifteen years old, he fought in the defence of Polish Lviv (Lwów).

After the war he studied mathematics at the University of Warsaw. He worked in the Ballistic Research Center in Rembertów (Polish: Centrum Badań Balistycznych w Rembertowie) during the interwar period. He received a PhD in mathematics, before graduating in 1933 from the School Reserve Officer Cadet Artillery in Włodzimierz. On 1 January 1935 he was promoted to porucznik, the Polish equivalent of a Lieutenant. In 1939, he was assigned to the staff of OK I.[1]

Murder

In the spring of 1940, he was murdered by members of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and de facto secret service) in the Katyn forest, during the Katyn Massacre, the series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and prisoners of war carried out by the Soviet Union in April and May 1940.[1]

Awards

  • Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (nr 14384) – collective posthumous honor of Polish soldiers murdered in Katyn and other unknown places of execution granted by the President of Poland in Exile Stanisław Ostrowski (11 November 1976)
  • Cross of September Campaign 1939 – the collective posthumous medal commemorative given to all the victims of the Katyn massacre on 1 July 1986

Family

He had three sisters: Maria Danuta Żelazowska (died 1933), podpułkownik Grażyna Lipińska (1902–1995) and psychologist and a Home Army soldier, Stefania Żelazowska (1907–1992).[2][7]

In 1931 he married Cecylia (or Celina) Benisz. They had one daughter – Krystyna (born 1935).[1][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tarczyński, Marek; Kiński, Jan; Malanowska, Helena; Olech, Urszula; Ryżewski, Wacław; Snitko-Rzeszut, Janina; Żach, Teresa. "Księga Cmentarna Polskiego Cmentarza Wojennego w Katyniu (Eng: Cemetery Book of Polish War Cemetery in Katyn)" (PDF). Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa (eng. Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Stefan Lech Sokołowski h. Gozdawa". Sejm-Wielki.pl. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Anna Maria Aurelia Skarbek w Wielkiej Genealogii Minakowskiego pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23]
  4. ↑ Witold Sokołowski h. Gozdawa w Wielkiej Genealogii Minakowskiego pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23]
  5. ↑ Anna Maria Aurelia Sokołowska iPSB pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23]
  6. ↑ Grażyna Lipińska – życiorys str. 1 PDF pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23]
  7. ↑ Anna Maria Aurelia Sokołowska iPSB pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-24]
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